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Brian Lara, the West Indian captain seen here, is a Tridadian cricketer
who has built massive scores over the decade. His style is dynamic his stance
thrilling - slashing balls to the boundary. Within just two months in 1994,
Lara's 375 and 501 not out broke world records for the highest Test and
first-class scores. However Lara's career has been shadowed by a largely
fruitless spell as captain of a fading team. Cricket has never been about
one player but Lara single-handedly defying the 1998-99 Australian tourists
with a sequence of 213, 8, 153 not out and 100. After Sir
Garry Sober s suggested a tweak to his flourishing backlift, Lara returned
to his best in Sri Lanka in 2001-02 and reclaimed the captaincy the following
year. Lara still stands alongside Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar as the
most charismatic cricketers of the modern era.

Brian Lara spoke at the Barbados Cricket Association's Awards ceremony for
the 2002 domestic season, which was attended by the Barbados and Trinidad
and Tobago cricket teams.

"I see the West Indies' first Test series victory in 1950 against England
as the renaissance in the history of West Indies cricket, the rebirth of
West Indies cricket.
During that period in the 50s and 60s, at the same time, we were seeking
independence as small Caribbean islands from Britain. Cricket represented
freedom. It exemplified freedom. It gave us dignity and it gave us pride.
It also was the unifying force back in the 50s and 60s for all West Indian
people," Brian Lara.

England
players Mark Butcher (left) and Graham Thorpe are two happy men leaving
the pitch.

PORT-OF-SPAIN – Less than a week after describing the West Indies
team as the most disciplined it had been in the past four years, team
manager Ricky Skerritt is calling it quits.

In an unexpected announcement yesterday in the aftermath
of a second successive Test defeat against England that assured the visitors’
retention of the Wisden Trophy, Skerritt resigned his post with effect
from the end of June. < Read
more >

The administrators met in November. And now it’s the turn of the players
to put their heads together.
In a move of strength and unity, embattled West Indies players will meet
in Trinidad and Tobago in an emergency meeting with West Indies Players
Association (WIPA) president Dinanath Ramnarine.

A cricketing source close to senior West Indies players informed the
DAILY NATION that the players, including senior members, were scheduled
to meet with Ramnarine.

The WIPA and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) are currently in a
see-saw battle concerning match and tour contracts for players, as well
as salary payments after recent successful tours.

AT QUEEN’S PARK OVAL, Port-of-Spain – Like any of the top
2004 Carnival calypsos, a fielding cricket team often depends on its rhythm
to make an impact.

And while the rhythms, along with the accompanying lyrics and melodies
of road march king Sherwin Winchester, Destra and Machel Montano blared
from the speakers during a significant rain break on the second day of
the second Cable & Wireless Test here yesterday, the lengthy delay
also appeared to have affected the West Indies’ rhythm.

West Indies were moving to the beat, not literally, in the first 5.3
overs of England’s response to 208 when mainly light, continuous
showers prevented play between 10:48 a.m. and 3:15 p.m.